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Anglophiles, Attention! "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that happened to me in my entire life." Thus spake 11-year-old Flavia de Luce, when she sees a man dying in the cucumber patch of Buckshaw, the decaying deLuce estate in England.

Our region, nay, our nation lost a treasure last month with the death of Bill Holm, writer, conversationalist, pianist extraordinaire. Bill died too young at age 65. The newspapers called him a giant in more ways than one. At 6'6" the big Icelander from Minneota, Minn., had big appetites all around, for reading, for writing, for big roast beef dinners, for good bourbon. I just talked to a mutual friend about how sad it was that Bill should die so young. "Oh, well," said my friend, he lived "two lives for our one." That's so.

Two talented upper Midwestern writers with ethnic interests headline today's book report. The first is by University of Wiscosnin-Superior poet and fiction writer Anthony Bukoski. It's a collection of short stories, Bukoski's fifth book, entitled "North of the Port" (Southern Methodist University Press, $22.50). Bukoski, who grew up in Superior, sets most of his stories on the port city's east end, a Polish ghetto in the throes of change.

One of the first novels ever written in English, in 1740, was a humdinger named "Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded," by a London businessman Samuel Richardson. Richardson was in the stationery business, selling fancy paper to rich women, who needed to send out thank you notes.

With breeding duck numbers at their lowest in 20-years, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is taking a conservative approach to duck bag limits. The DNR announced this week that it will maintain last year's 60-day duck hunting bag limit that is more conservative than the regulatory structure allowed by the U.S.

Minnesota deer hunters can expect some changes this coming fall. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says they are continuing to streamline their deer management program which they hope will make it easier for hunters to bag a deer. Some of the changes include deer zone realignments and changes to deer area boundaries. DNR officials point out that these changes were discussed at several public meetings across the state and from these meetings they gained that public support for the changes was high. "We are continuing to make changes to more efficiently manage whiteta

Hunters planning on hunting need to sign up for a firearms safety hunter education class now. That's what the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is telling hunters across the gopher state. DNR officials say that hunters can not buy a hunting license in Minnesota and many other states unless they have completed the training. "Instructors throughout the state are gearing up for the late summer fall rush," said Capt. Mike Hammer, DNR hunter education coordinator.

Last year was a good year for Minnesota pheasant hunters according to state wildlife officials. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials say that favorable weather helped make 2005 one of the best pheasant hunting seasons in 40 years. The DNR says hunters harvested 585,000 pheasants last fall - the highest harvest since 1964 - well above the 2004 harvest of 420,000 birds. Individually, hunters also harvested more doves and ducks.

There will soon be a new critical habitat license plate for Minnesota drivers to purchase and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is going to hold a contest to design it. "The contest represents a great opportunity for artists who would like to have their work featured on license plates across Minnesota," C.B. Bylander, Outreach Section chief for the DNR Fish and Wildlife Division.